The Daemons of Commorragh
by Azure Zangetsu
Summary: Three Soul Drinkers are forced to use the Eldar webway to reach the city of Commoragh, the Dark Eldar capital, to rescuse Librarian Brasidas. They are soon caught up in a war of Kabals, for Commorragh does not allow anyone to remain neutral for long.
1. Prologue

"_How fragile and worthless, the souls of mere humans. But how insatiable have they made me." – Tra'inal, Fell Witch Kabal._

Thanatos of the Soul Drinkers Chapter raised his bolter and fired at the Dark Eldar warrior running across the shattered ground of a natural bridge across the Fyonda River of Viloris IV. Bolter rounds tore the xenos into shreds, eviscerating what little flesh there was beneath the slim armor it wore. The warrior fell to the ground in a mess of entrails and broken limbs. Its weapon fell into the river below. Thanatos nodded to his brothers, Icarus and Theron, and then moved through the trees that housed them. They were currently trying to retrieve their librarian, Brasidas, from the clutches of the Dark Eldar. They had been assembled for a reason, the three of them.

They were all blanks, beings invisible to any form of psychic detection known to the Imperium. Sarpedon had sent them with Brasidas to this world to find an artifact that would benefit the chapter. All they had to go by was that it was called the Helm of Storms, and that it was colored white with purple streaks of lightning painted across its surface. Now, instead of searching for a lost artifact, the remaining three Soul Drinkers were searching for their lost librarian. Down the edge of the river they lurked, watching for more Dark Eldar warriors and incubi of there were any.

Thanatos rechecked his weapon and then gripped the hilt of his force spear, liberated from the dead hands of a Thousand Son sorcerer lord. The Soul Drinker let a slight smile settle itself upon his face. The spear was more of a halberd really, a long shaft with a curved blade on one side and faintly glowing orb of light at the top. Brasidas had one much more ornate and complicated and most definitely more powerful. But it might not even be in the librarian's possession at the moment. If the Dark Eldar could feel his presence from their headquarters here, then he was most likely going to be tortured for weeks before having his soul stripped away.

Looking around, Thanatos scanned the immediate area for more enemies. Dark Eldar could be lurking anywhere around here, and the first wrong move would be his last if he wasn't careful. Though liberating their comrade was nigh-impossible, Thanatos and the others had agreed that they wouldn't rest until their brother was found and returned to their ranks, one way or another.

'Brother, what do you see?' asked Icarus, peering into the forest on the other side of the river. Thanatos shrugged.

'I see nothing. But it is more likely that they are simply waiting for us out there, rather than simply absent,' he replied.

'Something is out there. I can feel their presence as a whole, something like a hole-ridden corpse. It is…unsettling to feel such distress from one's soul. Can you feel it brother, the decay upon their souls?' Theron asked. Before Thanatos could answer, however, he spun around and a shrill, agonized cry rang out as his bolter smashed the unarmed head of a Dark Eldar wytch. Thanator turned about and ran his force spear through the neck of his own foe, this one a well-armored incubus with a weapon that looked akin to his own clutched in its hands. Thanatos kicked the dying body off his spear and raised his bolter. He maimed entirely the foe trying to get a fix on him from behind a tree. Meanwhile, Icarus ripped and hacked through four warriors with his power sword. Every one of his attacks dropped a limb from a foe.

Thanatos raised his spear and halted the claw of an enormous red beast. It snapped at him with a canine-like snout filled with misshapen teeth and fangs and bone. His "acquired" rosarius flared to life and flickered with strain. The space marine forced the muzzle of his bolter against the beast's exposed belly and fired. Bones and flesh fountained out its back and the red beast let out a miserable wail. Thanatos forced it back and then slashed its neck with his spear, ending its life.

'Warp beasts, be wary brothers,' Thanatos warned. Another warp beat lunged at him from the flora, and Thanatos lowered his spear. The beast impaled itself upon his weapon's blade and even still, tried to claw and snarl at him as he blew its body apart with his bolter. The three space marines quickly dispatched the beasts' master and the hungry hounds went wild. They slashed and tore at anyone they could find with a ravenous hunger for flesh. The Dark Eldar retreated back into the forest with their own hounds snapping at their heels.

Icarus growled with annoyance as he patched a gash along his forehead with syntheflesh. Thanatos could find no wounds upon his own body, and he felt very lucky. Warp beasts were known for their ability to shear through most armor like it was nothing more than tin foil. Theron quickly checked for any more hidden ambush parties, but found none. He gave the signal that the three could continue without hindrance.

Thanatos resumed sneaking through the edge of the forest toward the bridge. He knew that Brasidas was somewhere on the other side. But getting there was going to be a problem. The only way across the river, which was almost thirty paces across and deeper than Thanatos cared to try his luck with, was a natural bridge of solid rock that was only wide enough to compliment one space marine. Crossing it would be trouble if the Dark Eldar were waiting on the other side of the river for them to make the mistake. Thanatos turned to his comrades and heaved a frustrated sigh.

'We have two choices. We can continue the search for the Helm of Storms without Librarian Brasidas, or we can risk going over the bridge to find him. I'd like to know who's going with me once I leave cover to cross the bridge,' he said.

'Icarus, I'm afraid you'll have to search for the helm alone,' Theron said.

'You two would have more holes in you than Eumenes' plan to usurp the chapter if you didn't have me watching your backs,' the young marine snorted. Thanatos let himself smile.

'Then we cross the bridge. Prepare your krak grenades. We're going to throw them across the river when we make a run for it,' he said. He pulled two grenades from his pouch and put his force staff on his back. He clipped his bolter to his belt and took a grenade in each hand. Nodding to his brothers, he leapt from cover and sprinted across the ten feet of open ground to the bridge. Immediately, his rosarius flared to life and he tossed a grenade into the forest ahead. He tossed the second one underhandedly off toward a silver and yellow stain in the green vegetation. He drew his force staff and thundered across the bridge.

His grenades exploded with mighty force, sending leaves and vines and dirt in all directions. Cries in terror and pain reached his ears and the Soul Drinker grinned. He bounded forward the last few steps to the forest's edge and then let out a war cry. He swung his weapon and decapitated an incubus' head. He planted his foot on its chest and pushed the xenos to the ground, smashing its ribcage with his heavy boot. Icarus joined the charge with his power sword and bolt pistol, horribly slaying anyone within his reach. He clubbed more foes down with his gun than shot them with it.

Calmly, Theron had his bolter shouldered and blew apart slender limbs and armor like they were targets to practice with. His steady advance broke the charge of three wytches as they thought better of getting filled with Imperial fury. Icarus quickly remedied their retreat with death and destruction. Thanatos cut a swathe of destruction through a small group of warriors before the Dark Eldar began a retreat. The Soul Drinkers gave chase, shooting anyone that was in sight. Though the forest was thick, the Dark Eldar hadn't been a stealthy as they first thought. Their silver bodies and yellow shoulders and helms were easy to spot in the deep green and brown forest.

Thanatos quickly found that he was being overconfident and arrogant when a Dark Eldar, which eh hadn't seen, fell upon his body and raised a hand that looked like it had been transformed into a living blade. Its head promptly exploded into bone and brains. Thanatos threw the corpse aside and it struck a shadowy figure crouching nearby. Theron called out, but his warning was drowned out by a bestial snarl and then a roar. Thanatos threw himself aside as a warp beast jumped for him. He mashed its skull into pudding with the cartridge of his bolter. It yelped and then fell to the ground, legs sprawled out beneath it.

'Is there no end to these monsters?' Icarus shouted, cutting down a warp beast as he dodged its claws and spiked tail.

'Don't stop! Push forward!' Thanatos bellowed, lancing forward with his spear to take a nigh-invisible Dark Eldar through the chest. It was much like the other one, with its arms morphed into blades towards the ends. It might have just been their strange skin or a stealth field, but they looked corrupted beyond recognition. For all Thanatos knew, those could be their bones.

Still, the three space marines battled their way through what turned into a hit and run retreat. They encountered three small groups of the shadowy-skinned Dark Eldar that Theron had identified as mandrakes. A few warp beasts ran rampant amongst the confused Dark Eldar. Warriors fought to keep the space marines back, but failed as they were overtaken with sheer force from the determined Soul Drinkers. And after a short while, the space marines had found their librarian. Things did not look good for him, nor for the three trying to rescue him.

Librarian Brasidas was on the ground, his entire body in the spasms of a massive seizure. His eyes blazed with bright blue light and lightning formed webbing between his fingertips. His force staff was in the hands of a Dark Eldar that looked nothing like the others of its race. It barely looked like it was a child of the materium.

The Dark Eldar's body was mostly unarmored, and only its lower body had any covering. It wore a torn scrap of what looked to be an Imperial manuscript. It was torn in a way that one of the thing's legs was entirely covered and the other was bare. The Dark Eldar wore greaves and bladed boots of steel, encrusted with eldritch runes and markings of every kind. From the back of its right hand to its elbow ran a spiked carapace, black in color and purple in aura. Its left hand was clawed with the same material, though its forearm was simply tattooed.

Its chest cavity was torn open in the middle from its navel up. Where organs, flesh, and bone should have been; there was purple warp fire. The same black carapace that resided on its hands lined the skin that had been split, ending at its shoulders. Where its head would be, there was only a six-eyed helmet inlaid with odd symbols and geometric patterns. The helmet floated within the purple fire erupting from its pale, gaunt body. From the xenos' back erupted six long bones that split half way. Between the halves of the split bones was torn and pockmarked with holes.

'What is that thing?' Icarus asked aloud. The warped Dark Eldar knelt down beside Brasidas' spasm-wracked body and let out a piercing laugh.

'You thought that you could stand up to _me_? The Hierarch of the Fell Witch Kabal, Tra'inal? Human, you have no idea what you have condemned yourself to,' it said, voice like shattering glass and howling wind. Thanatos shook his head slowly and took aim at the thing with his bolter. _Suffer not the mutant_, the space marine thought. Mutants of other races counted too, especially so.

'Brasidas! Hear me and rise up!' roared Theron as he fired into the crowd of Dark Eldar around the spectral leader. Suddenly, a large hovercraft vehicle darted out of the forest behind the crowd, loaded with warriors. Thanatos traced a bead on the fiery leader and shot its helmet from its body. The thing turned toward him and its six small wings fanned out. Purple fire gathered at the two tips of each one.

'Brasidas!' shouted Icarus as he rushed from cover, bolt pistol spitting death at the scattering Dark Eldar. Thanatos decided that his best chance at getting the librarian back was to charge as well and use his own fledgling psyker skills. Thanatos called upon his force staff for all of its power and raised his bolt pistol. Using his gun as a substitute for his fingers, he unleashed his powers upon the Dark Eldar warriors and the new craft that was turning so that all of its passengers could fire at them.

Lightning erupted from the barrel of his bolter, arcing forward and incinerating all of the Dark Eldar standing on the deck of their hovercraft. Dark Eldar burst into flames and screamed in terror. Their hovercraft returned fire with a violet beam of shimmering light and missed Thanatos' head by a hair's breadth. Theron began shooting at its forward gun while Icarus ploughed his way through a squad of warriors towards the machine. Thanatos ignored the immediate threat and charged towards the Dark Eldar leader, Tra'inal.

'I will show you the power of the Dark Eldar! The Kabals are not to be trifled with, human!' it shouted. Thanatos leveled his bolter with its head and recited a litany of faith before firing. Much to his surprise, his weapon's heavy rounds simply diverted their courses away from the Dark Eldar for no apparent reason. _Sorcery_, the Soul Drinker thought bitterly as he clipped his bolter to his belt and gripped his force spear with both hands.

'Be purged! Emperor's wrath be upon you!'

'And your own upon you!' the thing snarled in return, raising Librarian Brasidas' staff high over its head. Beams of purple light from its wings focused on the end of the staff and it glowed a dark, eerie hue. Thanatos knew that his only chance was to have Brasidas join him against this foe.

'Brasidas! Wake! We are in dire need of your assistance! Brasidas!' he roared. The Librarian's spasm's continued, but his hand raised from the ground. Lightning from his fingertips crackled as they etched zigzagging patters through the air. The smell of ozone was trong as the lightning arcs reached the Dark Eldar and its entire body erupted in a shower of blue flames. It dropped Brasidas' force staff and stumbled backwards, clutching its sides.

'Back! Back to Commorragh! This battle is not ours!' it shouted hoarsely, grabbing Brasidas by his wrist and dragging the librarian backward.

Suddenly, a large crescent structure shimmered into existence behind the Dark Eldar and what was left of their pitiful resistance retreated towards it. Their leader picked up its dented helm and refitted it within the flames of its open body, moving back toward the structure. Theron was busily trying to disable the vehicle while Icarus chased an incubus back towards the gathering Dark Eldar. Thanatos watched with horror as two of them disappeared in a pink flash, then three, then a warp beast and its handler. The crescent structure emitted a small wave of energy whenever one of the Dark Eldar disappeared. It was a portal, an Eldar webway portal.

They were running away! And they were stealing Brasidas too!

'Icarus, don't kill him! Capture him! Hurry!' Thanatos roared at the top of his lungs. Icarus leapt upon the incubus and tacked it to the ground, grabbing its hands and rolling around to restrain it. Theron finished with the vehicle by blowing its command console to pieces and jumping to the ground, moving to help Icarus. Thanatos glared at the retreating aliens, rushing towards the Hierarch He discharged a bolter round towards the Hierarch. It snapped its fingers, and then disappeared with Brasidas in tow. His bolter round flew through thin air.

'You cannot make me speak! I have endured a thousand years of pain and pleasure! You cannot force me to reveal our purpose!' the incubus chattered insanely as he was hauled to his feet and bound with metal rods, bending them around his slender limbs. Theron tore off its mask to reveal a scarred face with a smirk. Its eyes were red with deep blue pupils, a glare present within them.

'Take us through that gate and lead us to your comrades,' Thanatos ordered. The incubus only laughed.

'You think that I will submit to you? You are indeed fools then! Kill me and save yourselves the trouble of trying to torture me! Laughable!' it spat. Icarus drew something from his pouch and then a needle from his medical kit. He revealed that it was a vial of light blue liquid in his hand, and the Dark Eldar narrowed its eyes. Thanatos stepped back and let Icarus work unhindered. This might be their only chance to rescue Brasidas.

'This will be more than enough to make you scream for death. I know all about your sick pleasures, Eldar, and that you are being eaten alive by…hmmm, what is the thing's name again? _She Who Thirsts_,' Icarus taunted, drawing a bit of liquid from the capped vial. He eyed the amount carefully. The incubus ceased it struggles and then looked Icarus in the eyes.

'She will devour you as well!' it shouted. Icaruse lowered the needle to the Dark Eldar's eye.

'Would you do as we ask _before_ I begin to torture you?' he asked. The incubus smirked again.

'I have willingly been subject to more poisons that you will ever imagine, fool. You cannot try to compare to even one!' it shouted at him. Icarus pushed the needle into the incubus' eye and then pushed his thumb down to inject the liquid. The alien's eye swelled to the bursting point, but didn't pop. It looked like a bloated fruit. The Dark Eldar couldn't blink it was so engorged and misshapen. It grinned.

'Oh, do not take me for a fool. This is not poison. It won't even hurt. In fact…' he trailed off, putting the needle away again and letting the Dark Eldar focus entirely on him. 'It will do the exact opposite,' he finished.

'And then what?' asked the incubus, wary. Its eye began to leak puss and blood, the organ releasing liquid to reduce swelling.

'And then I will throw you over my shoulder and take you back to my home as a trophy. You will look very nice perched upon a wall, completely numb to even the most basic senses and feelings. You will feel nothing, not even emotions. You will still think and act accordingly, but you will be cut from all manner of pain and pleasure. I could even remove the right half of your brain and replace it with mechanical parts, and make you into a servitor? Wouldn't that be fun, a servant that feels nothing when I kick it, or when I do…_other_ things to it?' he said, reaching under the Dark Eldar's back. He lifted the incubus and gently put it over his shoulder. It squirmed, but to no avail. Icarus turned around and began walking back toward the forest and out of the clearing.

'Wait!' the incubus wailed with anguish and desperation. Icarus held it aloft before him, hands under its arms.

'Yes?' he asked, a smug smile upon his face.

'I will open the portal if you kill me afterward,' it said barely above a murmur.

'But we will need safe passage through the webway, to wherever you were going to arrive at. The webway is a mysterious place to us inferiors,' Icarus mocked. The incubus whimpered and then said something. Icarus leaned in and tilted his head to the side.

'What was that?'

'I will lead you through to Commorragh if you let me go afterward,' it said. Icarus nodded, and then carried the Dark Eldar over to the webway portal. The structure was silent. Thanatos grabbed Brasidas' discarded staff and raised it toward the webway gate. It lit up and the Dark Eldar looked toward the sky. He recited something almost inaudibly and then Thanatos felt the raw essence of his being stripped away from his body, which was thrown into the webway an instant later. Thanatos felt his mind screaming at him to turn back, but it was too late. He was already being dragged through the webway, towards the dark city of Commorragh.


	2. Commorragh

"_Eclipsing power is, at times, not only the instrument of daemons, but of great men as well." – Chaplain Brasidas, Soul Drinkers Chapter._

For what seemed like years, he lay there. His entire body ached. His mind burned with a psychic pain that he had not experienced before. His left hand felt like it was on fire, as if flames licked his fingers down to the bone and then charred them until they were brittle and worthless. His ears rang. All he could see was darkness, an all-encompassing darkness. He felt like he was being crushed under a million tons of plascrete, his bones snapping and ceramite armor becoming an eternal grave for a man that was as flat as a sheet of paper. And then…

…it all stopped in a single moment.

Thanatos opened his eyes and sat upright in an instant. His body felt fine, as if the pain and horrible pressure had simply been washed away by his consciousness. He saw that he was in the middle of an empty room where the walls were adorned with all manner of rotting and decaying corpse. Blood slicked the floor, crusted and dry in some places. The smell of decay in the place was only masked by the smell of ozone and fresh blood. Thanatos blinked hard, and found that his eyes were not deceiving him.

They really were in Commorragh, the dark capital of the Dark Eldar. He looked about his person to see if he had been captured while unconscious, and found that in his hands were still gripped both force weapons he had wielded when trying to access the webway. He had his own spear, named _Soulshard_, and Librarian Brasidas' staff, _Mortis Magnum_. His bolter was nowhere to be found, and maybe never would be at this rate.

Beside him, Theron and Icarus were both lying on the floor, still asleep. Unfortunately, the incubus was here and fully awake. He lay on the floor, body laxed and black hair sprawled out all over the floor. He had a bored look in his eyes as he looked at Thanatos. The Dark Eldar barely looked alive he was so still and unmoving.

'I am surprised that you survived, staff-wielder. Now kill me.'

'Not until I see that my comrades are indeed alive and well. Then we will speak about killing you,' Thanatos quipped.

'Now. You agreed to kill me,' the incubus hissed. Thanatos shook Theron until the Soul Drinker stirred slightly and his grey eyes opened.

'Icarus spoke to you. I said nothing about a deal.' Thanatos began rousing Icarus as well, and he stirred only after knuckles rapped across his skull. The young warrior wasn't very pleased at being awoken in such a manner, but said nothing as he checked himself for injuries. Already, Theron was on his feet and looking about the room. Thanatos rose and brought Icarus up with him.

The three space marines searched the room briefly for anything useful. They found only a few bolter magazines with shells still in them, a melta bomb, and Dark Eldar handgun. All of these items were looted from the impaled corpses hung about the room as grim trophies, or something of the like. All the while, the incubus on the floor continued to moan "kill me" from his place on the floor. After the three marines were ready to begin the search for their lost comrade, Icarus walked over to the Dark Eldar and placed the muzzle of his bolt pistol against its head.

'I think a much better fate would be that you stay here while we rescue our comrade, and then use you to escape. But before we leave; what is you name, so that we may tell your superior who betrayed his kin?' Icarus' tone was demeaning, smug, and his words were meant to tear the being's pride to pieces.

'Kithlith…' the incubus whispered. Icarus patted him on the head and dragged him behind the crescent webway gate near the rear wall of the room. Kithlith didn't even stir. The neurotoxin in his blood that dulled and dampened his nerves could only be bled out. In this case, the condition would be permanent until death. Icarus stood and then walked to the doorway, which had no discernable door. The three marines stood at the doorway for a moment, unsure of what to do past this point. Thanatos soon found himself the focus of their eyes, their gazes expectant.

'I suppose that leave me to come up with some sort of plan to infiltrate the building in which Brasidas is held, rescue him, make it back here, and then escape without having us lying on a torture table?' questioned the marine. Icarus cracked a grin in response. Theron nodded silently, glancing through the doorway to make sure that nobody was outside.

'Well then, let's hear your plan.'

'Icarus, before I begin, I must know something.'

'Yes?'

'When you conversed with the xenos…you knew far too much about its culture and being, bordering on heretical amounts. You knew what would change its mind, how it worked…what it wanted. How?' Thanatos asked in a very serious tone. Icarus paled, and then stared at the floor.

'I…I have had visions,' he replied, ashamed.

'Tell me more,' Thanatos demanded.

'I have had visions of these xenos, for many years. I have only spoken of these things with Librarian Brasidas. My visions are very detailed, and very disturbing. I know much of their ways, and their technology. Beyond that, I know very little. But I am a servant of the Emperor, and I will be to my last breath! I will not throw my allegiance in with these mutants,' he declared with more fervor than intended. Thanatos put a hand on the younger marine's shoulder.

'I am not trying to convict you of heresy. I simply wished to know what the source of your knowledge was. Now, is there anything that you know that might prevent us from walking directly into an ambush or trap?'

'He could tell you everything you wish to know. He is a high rank in the service of this Kabal,' Icarus replied, pointing to Kithlith who still sat where he had been put. Theron remained at the doorway, against the wall beside it as a scout. Thanatos and Icarus strode over to the incubus, who was silently awaiting his death at the hands of anyone that would give it to him. Icarus knelt down beside the slender alien's body and smiled at it. Kithlith regarded him with nothing more than a woeful stare.

'Icarus, I care not for how you complete the task. Just find out what we need to know,' Thanatos said.

'I'm sure he'll be happy to go with us, lead us down the right paths and such,' the marine commented dryly.

'He's more likely to betray us to his kin and redeem himself in their eyes than help us find Brasidas.'

'No, he's already condemned by this Kabal to death for betraying his employer. They'd most likely do things to him in a laboratory until he died, and with this drug in his system, he'd die pretty quickly. It may actually be more useful for him to come with us as a guide and source of information. What I have…ascertained from my visions is not as helpful as you think it may be,' Icarus explained. Kithlith looked up at him longingly, as if hoping that his words would be enough to make his fate more pleasurable.

'I will help you. My sect is already unhappy with this Kabal, and about to service another. I can take you to my sect…and help free your warrior,' he breathed, trying to keep his eyes focused to Icarus' face. He seemed to be having trouble keeping his head upright. He then made a request. 'But only if you cut out my eye. I cannot see from it, and it is worthless to keep such a thing.'

'If you swear to aid us in finding Librarian Brasidas,' Thanatos snapped. Kithlith looked up at him and smiled wryly.

'By the Poisoned Shadow Sect, I will see the Fell Wytch Kabal be destroyed,' he rasped. Icarus grabbed hold of the incubus' eye and pulled it out of its socket. He twisted the disfigured orb and then ripped the nerve bundle keeping it attached to its socket. Kithlith groaned.

'The pain…I can feel it,' he rasped in an almost elated tone. Icarus hoisted the Dark Eldar into the crook of his arm and sheathed his power sword. Thanatos nodded to him and walked back to the doorway, where Theron still stood, awaiting an order. Thanatos checked to see if he was ready. Mortis Magnum was secured on his back. He had a splinter pistol in one hand and Soulshard in the other. Directed to turn right into the hallway, the three space marines and their captive began their trek through Commorragh.

And at first, everything went without incident. With Theron at their fore, and Icarus with their guide, they were able to avoid major engagements altogether by sneaking past them and quickly backtracking. But eventually, they had run out of hallways to travel, and they came to a bridge that connected their building to another. Across the bridge, there was a group of warriors leading slaves toward them. Behind them were three wytches with a warp beast and its master. The thing looked like it was tracking the marines.

The Soul Drinkers ducked into a large niche beside the doorway that opened up to the bridge. Icarus readied his bolt pistol and cradled Kithlith more firmly in his arms. Theron crouched and waited for the command to strike. Thanatos debated with himself on whether or not hiding might work to save them. As the wytches drew closer, their warp beast began snapping at its handler. The slave-holding warriors were also drawing rather close. The warp beast continued to be disturbed and became increasingly so as the other group came nearer. Thanatos didn't know what to do.

Then suddenly, both Dark Eldar parties were in front of the niche and the warp beast turned its head toward the space marines. Even before it could let out a howl or even a yelp, Thanatos roared a battle cry and rammed Soulshard into its red hide. He pushed it against the opposite wall of the hallway and unleashed a volley of crystalline death upon the unsuspecting wytches with his splinter pistol. Immediately, three of them leapt back and out of the way. Two however, and the beast trainer had their necks and heads filled with holes and dropped to the floor.

It took no more than a second for the Dark Eldar to react. They recovered from the initial shock of having a huge armored warrior come out of seemingly nowhere and took cover. However, Theron was hugging the left wall and resisting the urge to fire at the wytches with his bolter. They had to stay a secret from the eyes of the Dark Eldar. That gun would doom them all. Icarus swung his power sword into the other group, cleaving heads and torsos as he went. He pressed hard against the warriors and they began to flee. Thanatos tired to raise his pistol against them, but he was rushed by two wytches.

'Icarus! Don't let them escape!' he hissed. Icarus rammed his sword into the floor and grabbed up one of the guns on the floor. He plastered Dark Eldar innards across the bridge with a wry smirk on his face. Kithlith leaned into the marine's shoulder in an attempt to keep himself from falling to the floor as Icarus chuckled heartily. Meanwhile, Thanatos dodged and blocked wytchblades with everything he had in him. Theron had grabbed up one of the wytchblades and was stabbing and slicing with it. His bolter couldn't be used, lest he give away the fact that they were here. As Thanatos kicked a wytch back with his huge boot, Icarus ran her through with his power sword, growling.

'You'd steal all of these ones before I could return, would you?' he asked jokingly, removing his blade from the wytch's corpse. Her body fell to the ground, a pool of crimson blood gathering around her. Thanatos bisected the last wytch's head diagonally and Theron nodded thankfully.

'I might have lost that once were it not for you two,' he said, picking up a warrior's splinter rifle. Theron had always been a better ranged warriors, and was rightly placed on the battlefield as major support. His targets rarely ever escaped him alive.

'So, what about them,' Icarus questioned, motioning over to the group of slaves standing bewildered before the marines. Thanatos shrugged.

'If they wish to join us in finding Brasidas, then release them. If not, then run them through.' Thanatos walked over to the chained slaves and the one at their fore spoke up. He was naked from the waist up, and wore only torn remains of pants as clothing.

'Release us. We are of the Viloris IV First Regiment. We can help you, space marine,' he said. Thanatos quickly tore the chains apart for the slaves and the men stood there in front of him for a moment. They only numbered sixteen gaunt and pale men. They all looked half-starved and sleep-depraved. But, having temporary freedom seemed enough to motivate them for now.

'Grab any weapons you can and follow us. Be silent. We cannot afford to be caught here.'

'We come from a jungle world. Silence is one of our base instincts,' one of them said. And his head was subsequently lightened as his brain happened to be smeared all over the floor. Everyone dropped to the floor and Kithlith groaned.

'The turrets. We must move before more find us,' he said. Theron bolted to the bridge, crystalline particles glancing off the bridge just behind his heels. Thanatos nodded to the guardsmen and everyone began their sprint across the bridge. When they were nearly half way across, another gun emplacement somewhere above them opened up and caught two of the slower guardsmen. It pumped them full of purplish crystals until their bodies shone in the strange dark light that illuminated the city. Theron began firing back at one of the turrets. It was no use though; they were too far away. Icarus ducked into the doorway and the rest of the groups followed immediately. Theron was the last to ender, still trying to hit his target.

Down the hallway, they ducked into an empty room and Theron took guard post with three panting guardsmen. The rest sat against the wall and tried to catch their breath. Thanatos tallied up their losses. Out of the sixteen, only ten of the guardsmen remained. Two of them were bleeding from minor wounds, nothing serious though. Their leader stood up and regarded Thanatos respectfully.

'Now that we have time to speak, what are you doing here? I thought us to be tortured before you arrived,' he said.

'We are searching for another of our brothers, Librarian Brasidas. Have you seen another space marine recently?'

'Actually, we have. Blue armor with a gold trim?' the man asked. Thanatos' eyes went wide.

'You _have_ seen him! Where is he located?' asked the space marine urgently. The guardsman fell silent for a moment before answering.

'They took him beneath the building about three bridges back. I fear the worst for that poor soul.' The guardsmen all muttered prayers to the Emperor and turned their gazes to the ground. They all knew what was happening to Brasidas, and that he needed rescue. The only thing that remained was to go and get him. Thanatos stood and Theron snapped his head around, kneeling down away from the door. He pressed himself against the wall.

'More of them,' he warned in a hushed tone. Everyone pressed themselves against the wall the doorway was set in.

'How many?' Thanatos growled. Theron shook his head.

'Too many. We have to sneak past them.'


	3. Emperor Protect

"_Rage is a quality best reserved for when it is needed." – Librarian Brasidas, Soul Drinkers Chapter._

'But they're coming this way,' insisted one of the guardsmen, handling his stolen splinter rifle with an awkwardness of a child holding a bolter. The gun was too large, and had too many spikes for the man to wield correctly. The man had a deep-seated fear in his eyes, like that of a child looking at their parent while being beaten. He looked like Icarus had when he had been inducted into the chapter's ranks. Thanatos bit his tongue to silence himself.

'Then we will attack them on their way back, right through their center,' Theron said, edging away from the doorway as the Dark Eldar drew closer. The humans held their breath when voices could be heard. Fortunately, as they all must have thought, there were no snarls or growls from a warp beast. Thanatos waited, footsteps ringing out down the hallway right past the door. Everyone froze as they slowed and the Dark Eldar began speaking in their own language. Icarus cast a glance at Kithlith, but the incubus weakly told them that they were safe, and that those stopping were merely a rear guard of sorts.

Still, it was unsettling to hear shouting and questions being thrown across the bridge, more footsteps, several swooping air waves signaling that there were small flying vehicles coming to investigate. Things needed to change, quickly. Thanatos and his men were going to get bogged down and eventually found at this rate. Waiting could take hours, and then there could be dozens of patrols like this one trying to capture the interlopers. Or worse; they could call in their own incubi, an entire squad of them.

'We leave now. Kill the rear guard, then run,' Icarus said, stepping over toward the door. Thanatos let out a deep growl, but decided it was best to leave now than to stay and be surrounded later. They could play at hide-and-seek for the time being if they could get away. They just had to kill the rear guards and run like hell. The guardsmen looked scared and uneasy, but willing to go.

'Damn it all,' he muttered, launching himself out of the room and pushing off his right foot. Four warriors and a Sybarite were staring right at him. Thanatos rammed Soulshard through the sybarite's head and his splinter pistol through the neck of a warrior. The other two turned tail and fled. Thanatos would have shot them, but they were out on the bridge before his pistol was free. The Soul Drinker immediately spun on heel and pulled a grenade from his belt. He roared an order to flee to the rest of his men and they poured from the room with Icarus at their fore.

It was a short three seconds later that Thanatos rounded a corner and the entire group was out of sight entirely. Still sprinting, they passed rooms and doorways and massive arches with dead corpses and skulls lining them. Soon enough, they were running across a long open-aired bridge with a pillared ceiling lined with drooping and curved spikes like the talons of some great beast perched just above their heads.

On the ground were large bulbs, odd things that seemed to light up faintly whenever they ran past. Thanatos tripped more than once while he was dodging through the maze of ceramic protrusions, growling with annoyance as he almost fell over the spiked balcony to his right. The one of the left was much the same, like a rail guard meant to keep those passing over the bridge from falling over…or perhaps they were meant to keep one in. He shook the thoughts from his head and managed to catch up to Icarus. He seemed to be having a much easier time dodging through the obstructions, leaping over them or swinging his lower body over three of them at one time. Kithlith had his arm raised, blood streaming from his bare palm. He was giggling like a giddy child.

'I can feel! I can feel!' he shouted.

'I'm sure you can,' Icarus said, laughing as he vaulted another of the bulbs. 'And so you should feel that your mouth needs to be sewn up to keep you quiet until we can find another place to hide,' he finished. Kithlith's voice was immediately silenced and he let out a moan.

'It is painful! Turn left, left!' he shouted. Everyone looked to the side and saw that there was nothing but fog and thin air to the left of the bridge. Thanatos ignored the incubus and they continued running. Kithlith fidgeted in Icarus' grasp and scrabbled for the rail guard, in vain.

'What is it?' Icarus snarled.

'Over the edge! The ground! Your leader! Pain! Oh, the pain is wonderful!' he shouted. Everyone stopped. Thanatos looked back to see no less than eight warp beasts leaping and bounding through the web of bulbs. He looked down at the fog, unable to see anything beneath it. It was like looking down into what could be an eternity of waiting for death. Behind him lay certain death, with more and more Dakr Eldar racing out of the enclosed hallway and onto the bridge. Thanatos' hearts raced faster than they every had before. He trembled with anticipation and indecision. The warp beasts' howls and daemonic barking was growling louder. He could almost hear their ravenous tremors.

'Theron!' shouted the Soul Drinker.

'Yes sir.'

'What would Sarpedon do in this situation? Fight or flee?' asked Thanatos. He raised Soulshard toward a large cluster of bulbs, drawing upon what little of the power was left in his weapon. Theron strode over to him and looked over the edge. He then turned his gaze to the monstrosities bounding towards them. The Soul Drinker heaved a great sigh and then leapt over the edge wordlessly. Thanatos watched as the others debated whether or not to go, and then took the leapt of faith that could be their imminent doom. He thought about what could happen if he jumped, and then what would happen if he stayed. _Jumping reveals the unknown. Staying ensures my death_, he thought.

'Thanatos!'

'Life is like a long fall into darkness…' Thanatos said as he unleashed a bolt of psychic lightning upon the abnormal cluster of bulbs. They glowed bright pink, than the exploded into dust, causing the bridge's surface to ripple and then begin to bend and break. He launched himself over the edge of the bridge as the center columns snapped and more bulbs. '…and so one must free oneself…' More of the bulbs burst into eldritch fire and Thanatos backed toward the edge of the rail guard. Warp beasts were caught in plumes of fire and roared with pain and distress. The bridge sagged. '…and relinquish his body to the unknown…'

Thanatos leapt over the edge and squeezed his eyes shut as the bridge collapsed and the two new halves swung down towards the ground.

_Emperor protect me,_ Thanatos thought as he plummeted toward the ground.

* * *

When Thanatos opened his eyes, he saw a Dark Eldar's face above his. He recognized it faintly, long, angular features pulled into a slight smirk. Thanatos blinked hard in confusion and pushed himself upright. He found quickly that where he was could not have been a more unpleasant location. It was dank, dirty, smelly, and the chemicals in the air made his mouth taste sour. Of course, his body could metabolize even some of the most lethal poisons, but it still felt odd to have them coursing through all three of his lungs.

'Where are we?' he asked to assess the situation. Icarus poked his head and massive armored shoulder into the room for a half-collapsed stone doorway with a sloppy grin on his face. He stepped into the room and held something out to Thanatos. The Soul Drinker blinked again and took whatever it was from his comrade. He examined it.

'Is this…a doll?' he asked. What he held in his hand at the moment was a doll, yes, a doll. It was immensely confusing to have just woken up from a fall that had left him unconscious, to have a doll put into his possession. Thanatos furrowed his brow and then looked at Kithlith.

'Care to explain?' he asked. The incubus shrugged.

'It is called a torture doll. It is latent with…psychic powers…' he said, a look of longing and hunger in his gaze. Thanatos dropped the doll and glared up at Icarus.

'That is a cursed thing,' he stated. Icarus shook his head.

'No, Thanatos, using souls using their own madness and tortured hate is cursed and evil. Releasing a soul from its torment is saving it. You can use it to find Brasidas as well, because they used him to make it apparently,' the young space marine said, picking the torture doll back up and handing it to Thanatos again. This time, he took it and examined the strange thing closely. It looked like a child's doll, as the name would imply vaguely. But it was covered in stitches and runes painted onto its misshapen torso.

Each arm was long and made of a strange metal that had been apparently fused with the thing's cloth torso. Each hand was a stone with long, curved spikes jutting from its surface. Its legs were cloth, and swung loosely beneath its body, ending in hurriedly tied knots. Small blue and yellow wisps of psychic essence escaped through the faults in the doll's framework and stitching. A head like a small pumpkin sat upon its torso, connected by three crude strings. A great, wide leer was etched across its face, with two wide eyes painted on it. A crown of runes floated around its head, projected with the thing's dark essence. Thanatos could tell this thing was evil.

But what choice did he have?

'If this does not lead us to Brasidas, you will have much to answer for Icarus.'

'Yes Thanatos, I understand, but we really should get going now. Oh, and as for where we are; we're on the ground level of Commorragh. We're going to find an entrance into a haemunculus' laboratory. But we need to know which one, which is where you and the doll come in. Madrakes should be prowling around here in about an hour. We need to leave quickly,' Icarus explained with a bit of urgency. He disappeared into the next room as Thanatos stood up and checked himself for any abnormalities.

Icarus came back with Theron. Thanatos was handed his weapons and secured _Mortis Magnum_ on his back before leaving the small room with the others. Kithlith was now walking on his own two feet and held a punisher in his hands. It seemed like the drug had worn off after the incubus had lost enough blood. Unfortunately, this meant that he could betray them at any moment in the near future. The four original trespassers to this city joined nine of the ten rescued guardsmen. They all looked readier now, somehow hardier and with more nerve than they had been found with.

'Where is the other?' asked Thanatos. Everyone's eyes fell and the Dark Eldar spoke up with a smirk.

'When you lot took your tumble into the unknown, he happened to get skewered by an antenna,' he said as if it were something funny and acceptable to smile about. "Screamed all the way down it too,' he finished with a chuckle. Thanatos stuck the muzzle of his pistol into Kithlith's mouth. The Dark Eldar did nothing, nor said anything. The only change in his demeanor was that his eyes went from amused to confused.

'Thanatos!' Icarus hissed.

'I think it may be time to dispose of him before he does so to us. We have no leverage over him now that he is well.' The Soul Drinker glared at Kithlith before the incubus began to chuckle again. Thanatos removed the weapon from his mouth and Kithlith wiped his mouth.

'If I kill you, then I return to my sect considered dead. I have betrayed my contract to the Fell Wytch Kabal, and only its destruction or the death of its archon would allow my sect to accept me again.'

'What prevents you from simply rejoining your Kabal after killing us?'

'What indeed? I am a traitor as far as they know. They were shooting at me too on that bridge.'

Thanatos turned around and looked at the doll, its body dangling beneath a floating head. The thing floated just above the head of his force spear, slightly to the left and facing away from him. The group gathered themselves up and then left the building silently. They had to sneak and lurk through shadows and down back alleys to avoid mandrakes prowling the area. Icarus had been wrong about when they would begin their hunting. Evidence of their passage lay on the ground in the form of mutilated corpses and trails of blood leading into dark rooms.

There were no doors here, only holes through which one could enter and leave a place unhindered. In some places, the doorways had collapsed and pieces of their wraithbone material were scattered about the street. Thanatos and the others eventually found themselves led entirely by this strange doll, which would reposition itself around the head of his staff every so often, facing the direction they needed to go to find Brasidas. They came upon a large doorway with several warriors standing by it, and several sybarites sitting on a fresh corpse. There was a jetbike floating nearby with its pilot lounging lazily on it. Kithlith raised a hand for everyone to listen.

'There is never this much pressure for a haemonculus to keep interlopers out of his laboratories. The security is being upgraded within this Kabal. This is bad. We will need to use the underpaths to escape this Kabal's territory.'

'Underpaths?' Thanatos asked.

'Underpaths are a system of tunnels through which a Kabal can remove its archon and higher members of power during a war with another Kabal. It is risky though, because the tunnels have a complicated series of dead-ends and loops. Not only that, but Kabals generally use them for raiding parties and forays into their enemy's territory. We could run into another Kabal's raiding party down there and be killed,' Kithlith whispered. Thanatos growled with annoyance, but agreed that they would have to use them to escape.

Thanatos took a seat on a piece of rubble and then rubbed his eyes. He and the others needed rest, badly. They had been going about their mission for days on end. Heavy marching, pressing climbs up cliff faces, and then wandering through a city attempting to stay hidden and hoping to find clues as to where their librarian was kept. There was a limit, even with a few hours of sleep, at which a space marine could function properly. And these three Soul Drinkers were at the very edge of that limit. They were pressing down on the blade's edge harder and harder even though they didn't show it much.

He looked back at the Dark Eldar with a sigh. Breaking that blockade was going to be difficult. It would be their first actual fight in Commorragh. No more skirmishes and ambushes and flukes. This time they would have to plan out something or risk going in blind. But with mandrakes lurking about, and an untold number of Dark Eldar more that could arrive within a minute's notice, not much could be done. The Dark Eldar began crowding around each other, in circles with one or two yelling at the same time over something.

Thanatos tried to listen in, and then realized that they were not speaking his language. He suddenly felt glad that Kithlith knew how to speak it. He focused his attention back on the guards across the street as a number of figures dropped out of the sky and hovered above the street on anti gravity boards beneath their feet. They too began yelling and calling out for something. This all looked like some organized gambling event to Thanatos.

'They're about to have a race, the hellions,' Icarus said.

'A race?'

'They're crazy. They have races where they try to kill each other and win for the sake of beating the other hellions. Those ones are betting with slaves probably. We can't do anything until those hellions leave, and even then trying to break into that building with a dozen corpses outside would most likely attract a raider and more warriors."

"Then what do we do? We need to get in there and do it quickly. Emperor save Brasidas if we do not arrive in time," Theron said with a shudder. The others turned their gazes to the floor and Kithlith glanced back at the guarded door. There was silence as their thoughts wandered to all corners of the galaxy. Thanatos was at a loss here. They had to get rid of the guards and the hellions both, but one party would call for help upon seeing the corpses of the other. And of course, the space marines could be found before any of this could be accomplished. Some unlucky Dark Eldar could find himself in their midst and then sound off some sort of alarm.

There were too many variables, too many angles to go in from with the wrong men and wrong weapons. It was just too difficult! They hadn't the time, nor the resources o do any of this! Coming to Commorragh was suicide in the first place! Brasidas was as good as dead! …But they had to do something. Thanatos refused to let the librarian befome a plaything to be broken in, and then killed by some hideous xenos. And frankly, Kithlith's cooperation with them was something Sarpedon could have predicted.

'Icarus, you know them, their habits, their ways. Kithlith, you as well. Tell me…what should we do?' he asked, shifting uneasily against the wall as he peered back at the hellions. Thanatos could scarcely believe they had come this far, that his wisdom had brought them this far. Of course, luck had been a greater part of this foray. Now however, Thanatos was out of decisions, out of luck, and out of ideas. He didn' want to be the leader anymore. A moment of reprieve was all he wanted, a bit of rest.

'Thanatos, I have no clue. Kithlith knows everything there is to know about his own race and people. But our current situation isn't his forte.'

'Icarus, his people are raiders, assassins, thieves, and slavers. This is his area of expertise, sneaking about without getting caught,' Thanatos retorted.

'Have you ever heard of Dark Eldar assaulting a fortified planet? They have no durability. Their entire battle doctrine is about net getting fired back at. They have few heavy guns, and even fewer heavy vehicles. I swear, one grenade could fry the entire circuit board of a raider! If we could use our bolters out here, we could tear up anything within seconds!' said Icarus, fist clenched around the hilt of his sheathed power sword.

'We wait. Kill them all at once when the hellions divide up their winnings with the warriors. But the doors will not open then.'

'But then how do we get through the doors?' Thanatos asked.

'Blow them up,' Icarus deadpanned, patting the melta bomb at his side.

'It won't be enough,' Kithlith commented. All eyes went to his pale face and he continued. 'They have two door ways, one of which has turret emplacements in front of it, stitched into the walls. You need permission, and I cannot gain it because I am certain to be killed on sight if they see me at all. We must gain an ally in Commorragh if we are to survive more than two days here.'

'An ally?! How are we to obtain even one?' Thanatos snapped angrily. 'We are the interlopers here! We are going to be killed on sight, as has been the doctrine since we arrived here! How are we to keep sneaking about if someone knows about us? How are we to be sure our ally won't want to get into someone else's good graces by turning on us?' Thanatos was steaming angry. It might have been from his lack of sleep and tiredness, but he was very irritable and hot-blooded at the moment. Such a suggestion of letting themselves be known was absurd! This was hopeless!

'The Incubus Sect. Drazhar the Master of Blades dislikes the Fell Wytch Kabal and would be pleased to see it weakened or destroyed outright. We may find an ally in him,' the incubus suggested. The humans all paled visibly.

'We are going to ask a higher-up for help? Are you insane?'

'No, Icarus, I am not. Drazhar is a very ruthless and unforgiving one, and this Kabal has wronged him more than once. I may have sway with hi-'

'We will go to make him our ally,' said Thanatos darkly, removing himself from the wall. The guardsmen glared at him.

'And how do you propose to get him on our side? Oh, Drasher, we don't like these people so we'll kill their head guy for you if you protect us,' Haro, leader of the guardsmen, mocked.

'That is correct,' Kithlith replied, one eye gleaming with smugness. With a growl, Thanatos turned away from the haemonculus' guarded door and curse bitterly. _Brasidas…wait for us. Emperor, protect him until we arrive. I beg of you._

The group turned about and followed their guide out of the ruins and into the dark, empty street.


End file.
